Hittite

[ hit-ahyt ]

noun

1. a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 b.c.
2. an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, preserved in cuneiform inscriptions of the second millennium b.c. Compare Hieroglyphic Hittite.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Hittites or their language.

Hittite

/ ˈhɪtaɪt /

noun

1. a member of an ancient people of Anatolia, who built a great empire in N Syria and Asia Minor in the second millennium bc
2. the extinct language of this people, deciphered from cuneiform inscriptions found at Boǧazköy and elsewhere. It is clearly related to the Indo-European family of languages, although the precise relationship is disputed

adjective

1. of or relating to this people, their civilization, or their language

Other Words From

• post-Hittite adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hittite¹

1600–10; < Hebrew ḥitt ( īm ) Hittite (compare Hittite Khatti ) + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

In a telling example of how climate catastrophe can erase an entire world order, around 1200 B.C. the eastern Mediterranean suffered a protracted drought that “caused crop failures, dearth, and famine,” sweeping away Late Bronze Age civilizations like the Greek Mycenaean cities, the Hittite empire and the New Kingdom in Egypt.

From Salon

Archaeological digs for Hittite antiquities aimed to provide the new republic with a past rooted even more deeply than Greece and Italy.

From New York Times

No one knows for sure what happened to the ancient Hittite Empire.

From Washington Post

Such severe water shortages may have doomed the massive farms at the heart of the Hittite economy, leading to famine, economic turmoil and ultimately political upheaval, researchers say.

From Washington Post

The wood came from juniper trees that had been still standing when the Hittite empire fell.

From Washington Post